'Michael McIntyre' picture taken by Met Police helicopter team is posted on Twitter to outrage

Information Commissioner's Office is investigating picture which appears to show comedian outside Leicester Square radio studios

It was denounced by human rights campaigners who said it was "highly inappropriate" and showed a “complete disregard for the surveillance and data protection laws that are there to protect privacy”.

Scotland Yard initially defended a picture, which was posted by the National Police Air Service (NPAS) London Twitter account, run by the Metropolitan Police with 121,000 followers.

The police spokesman said that there were no plans to remove the tweet.

However, ground operations director for the NPAS, superintendent Richard Watson later admitted that the picture was “inappropriate” and would be deleted.

"We are aware of the tweet and, as far as we are aware, it does not breach any data protection legislation,” he said. “We will be speaking to the person who posted the tweet."

The ICO later confirmed they were investigating the incident, explaining that “processing personal data and disclosing images of this nature without a justifiable policing purpose” could amount to a breach of the Data Protection Act.

McIntyre was photographed outside the Global Radio offices in Leicester Square at around 8am on Wednesday morning.

The comedian's publicist, Alison Peters, who is also featured in the CCTV image carrying a large handbag, confirmed the picture was of her and McIntyre, calling it “crazy”.